Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE: FIG) announced today the successful
close of Fortress MSR Opportunities Fund II (“MSR Fund II”), at its cap
of $1.1 billion. MSR Fund II is a successor fund to the Fortress MSR
Opportunities Fund I (“MSR Fund I”), which closed in August 2012 with
$608 million in total commitments.
Fortress’s MSR Opportunities Funds are focused on investments in
residential mortgage servicing rights (“MSRs”). An MSR represents the
contractual monthly fee paid in exchange for the servicing of a mortgage
loan, net of a basic servicing fee. Fortress and its affiliates have
been among the most active investors in the MSR space over the past two
years, having invested or committed to invest in MSRs with an aggregate
underlying unpaid principal balance of over $315 billion. Fortress has
pursued opportunities in the approximately $10 trillion mortgage
servicing sector through a unique co-investment structure in which a
dedicated MSR Fund, and New Residential (NYSE: NRZ), a Fortress-managed
publicly-traded REIT, invest alongside Fortress portfolio company
Nationstar (NYSE: NSM), one of the industry’s most highly regarded
servicers.
“This is a transformative period for the servicing market that we
believe will present substantial opportunities in the coming years,”
said Wes Edens, Fortress Co-Chairman and Head of Private Equity. “As one
of the earliest and largest investors in the servicing space, with
significant experience as an owner/operator of major servicing
platforms, we’re confident we can capitalize on those opportunities on
our investors’ behalf.”
About Fortress
Fortress Investment Group LLC is a leading, highly diversified global
investment firm with $56 billion in assets under management as of March
31, 2013. Founded in 1998, Fortress manages assets on behalf of over
1,500 institutional clients and private investors worldwide across a
range of private equity, credit, liquid hedge funds and traditional
asset management strategies. Fortress is publicly traded on the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE: FIG). For additional information, please visit www.fortress.com.
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